Customs Seating in a Caddy

Need to pick some brains, I just bought a 51 2dr Cadillac. I fell in love with the style, but when trying to sit in it, realized that its not tall or big boy friendly. seat slider is all the way back, and the rear side panels prohibit it from going back much further anyways. The last picture shows the seat bottom just laying in there, but even getting it slid into its right spot its too high.

Anyone else have any recommendations here other than getting a complete different seat from a totally different vehicle?

I sit too tall in the car, my eyesight is at the top of the windshield, and cant really even do the pedals.

 

Those aren't the original seats, right? I'm 6' 2" and I had all kinds of room in my '55 Cad 2 door HT, knee clearance and steering wheel clearance. It looks like whoever did the upholstery went a little overboard with the foam.

 

In the last picture the seat looks awfully close to the dashboard. There should be more room , make sure the seat adjusters aren't rusted or otherwise have something preventing them from going back all the way.

 

I agree that those don’t look like the right seats. You should have all kinds of room in there. That front seat looks way too close to the dash.

 

I agree the seats look overstuffed like a fat kids halloween haul bag. I know the seat bottom isn’t completely in. It’s fighting going in and I need another set of hands to get it in. The seats bolt in stock location and all the frames and springs look just like the seat that was removed other than the thick back. But I’m compressing the bottom seat springs a lot cause I’m a big boy. Here are a few pics with tape measure.

 

For reference this was my Buick I just sold. Tons of room.

 

Not sure how many,need to tell you,those seat are not for that car ?
Hunt up the real seats that came in it,an redo as needed. Cadys from that far back are cool,ya got a cool car.

 

That seat back is way too thick and is pushing your butt forward. Notice how short the bottom cushion looks and you say the bottom is not all the way in yet.

 

Stock seat in a 4 door, looks just like yours is over stuffed to me.

 

Vert has the same seat it seems.

 

In your first post, you mentioned that the rear side panels kept the seat from going farther back. Is there any side clearance at all? It would probably benefit you to take the seat out of the car so that you can more easily get the seat bottom into place. I assume that you intend to repair the floor pan anyway, and it would be easier to do that with the seat out.

 

Hmm…I would have sworn those were the wrong seats. Hard to believe a Caddy would have so much less room than the other early 50’s GM cars though.

 

Looks like the right seat, but not properly assembled. The bottom cushion should be lower and further back. Take it apart and see what's going on.

 

FWIW, and I know you didn't want to hear this, but in my '49 (see Avatar) I ended up using '97 Eldorado front seats, yup, not trad, but fit, and comfy.

 

I'd start by removing the cover from the seat without damaging it......and check if some padding can be removed. Those old seats usually had a lot of open space under them that you might be able to lower the seat some.

If the rear side bolsters that are keeping the seat from moving any further back don't have too much interference, while the seat is apart, you might check to see if you could just narrow the seat frame and seat back frames an inch or so and then have the upholstery resewn to fit. It might allow clearance to move back farther and be unnoticeable. The upholsterer could possibly modify the seat backs on the inside center area and keep the upholstery you have already.

 

That seat looks like how I feel after leaving a all you can eat buffet. Way overstuffed.

 

My chopped 49 Buick has a stock front seat in it. After the chop I was looking through the shaded part of the top of the windshield. I cut down the seat sliders and cut down the seat frame that the cushion fit into, so now my seat is almost on the floor. It lowered it enough so now I can see through the clear part of my windshield. I also moved the tracks back 2" as it helped with leg room and vision through the windshield.

 

I’m blessed with another seat so I may try to hack on that a bit since it’s almost completely stripped down. Appreciate the insight.
I think the Buicks were taller In the door openings.

 

In 49 Buick used the same bodies as the Cad from the cowl back. I believe it's the same in the early 50's.